Drafts for Public Comment
In the course of preparation of a Communications Alliance Publication, a draft is released for public comment. Immediately below is/are the current draft(s) that is/are available for public comment. Drafts may be downloaded and reviewed off-line.
Want to submit a comment on a draft document?
You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.
All submissions received will be made publicly available on the Communications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.
Current Drafts for Public Comment
Once a period for public comment has ended the usual process is for the group that developed the draft (e.g. a Working Committee) to review any public comments on the draft and then work towards consensus on the content of the document, leading to publication of the document.
COMMENT SOUGHT ON DR C674:2025: EMERGENCY CALLING – NETWORK AND MOBILE PHONE TESTING CODE
The Code seeks to formalise a common set of testing criteria to test the expected behaviour of a set of Mobile Phones against a set of network Unavailable scenarios through cross-network testing and to start the process of building a Register that records Mobile Phone behaviours in a variety of scenarios.
The Code has also been developed to specifically address recommendation 3 from the Bean Review report provided to government in March 2024.
You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.
Please also contact us if you have any questions or require clarification on any issue.
All submissions received will be made publicly available on the Communications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD WILL CLOSE AT 5:00 P.M. (AEDST) ON THURSDAY 24 APRIL 2025
COMMENT SOUGHT ON DR AS/CA S042:2025 REQUIREMENTS FOR CONNECTION TO AN AIR INTERFACE OF A TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK
Part 1: General DR AS/CA S042.1:2025
Part 4: IMT-2000 and IMT-Advanced Customer Equipment DR AS/CA S042.4:2025
Part 5: IMT-2020 Customer Equipment DR AS/CA S042.5:2025
The AS/CA S042 Standard specifies the general requirements and test methods for CE for use in connection with a PMTS or a Satellite Service in order to meet the regulatory arrangements for such equipment in Australia.
The primary objective of this revision is to update the Emergency Call Services (ECS) requirements and introduce new requirements for Emergency Cell Broadcast (ECB) for the National Messaging System (NMS), and to review the requirements for satellite services. This edition of the Standard introduces new requirements for CE to support the NMS, which utilises Cell Broadcast (CB) technology to distribute targeted Emergency Warning Messages to compatible mobile phones and other devices in near real time. The requirements are based on ETSI Standards used for the European EU-Alert Public Warning System and follow a similar approach as in other jurisdictions, such as the US CMAS (Commercial Mobile Alert System) (also known as Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)) and the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System (ETWS).
This Standard does not include general requirements for CE accessing Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN). These requirements, including those for Emergency Call Services (ECS) and Emergency Cell Broadcast (ECB), are under development within the 3GPP and will be reviewed at a future point in time when they become stable. Radiofrequency (RF) requirements for NTN spectrum bands are specified in Part 4 of this Standard. The objective of the revision of Parts 4 and 5 is to align the spectrum band requirements in the Standard with current CE capabilities and service offerings.
You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.
All submissions received will be made publicly available on the Communications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD CLOSES AT 5:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY 6 MAY 2025
Expired Drafts for Public Comment
Once a period for public comment has ended the usual process is for the group that developed the draft (e.g. a Working Committee) to review any public comments on the draft and then work towards consensus on the content of the document, leading to publication of the document.
The documents listed below are drafts on which the period for public comment has ended. These documents are provided for reference.
COMMENT SOUGHT ON DR C628:2025: TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONSUMER PROTECTIONS CODE
DR C628:2025 and
Public consultation questions
This Code sets out additional customer protection requirements for the interactions between Carriage Service Providers (CSPs) and consumers in areas where extra protections are required, over and above the requirements set out in economy-wide or telecommunications-specific legislation and regulation.
It also provides limited guidance on key consumer-related requirements and guidance covered elsewhere.
This draft represents a substantial update to the 2019 Code. Key changes are highlighted in the public consultation questions, which also includes a number of questions which Communications Alliance is particularly interested in understanding your views on.
You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email, or Contact Us for alternative options.
Please also contact us if you have any questions or require clarification on any issue.
All submissions received will be made publicly available on the Communications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED AT 5:00 P.M. (AEDST) ON FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2025
All submissions are available here.
COMMENT SOUGHT ON DR AS/CA S008 A1:2024 Amdt No. 1/2025 to AS/CA S008:2020 Requirements for Customer Cabling Products Standard
AS/CA S008:2020 applies to Cabling Products (including Cable and related Customer Equipment) intended for connection to the customer side of the boundary of a Telecommunications Network. The proposed amendment is addressing an inconsistency with the flammability requirements in that Standard and AS/CA S009:2020, in order to align the cable product requirements with the installation practices specified in AS/CA S009.
You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.
All submissions received will be made publicly available on the Communications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED AT 5:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2025
COMMENT SOUGHT ON DR C658:2025 NEXT-GENERATION BROADBAND SYSTEMS DEPLOYMENT IN CUSTOMER CABLING DRAFT INDUSTRY CODE
DR C658:2025 Part 1
DR C658:2025 Part 2
DR C658:2025 Part 3
The draft DR C658:2025 Next-Generation Broadband Systems Deployment in Customer Cabling Industry Code is designed to prevent performance-degrading Unacceptable Interference within Customer Cabling that carries Legacy Systems (e.g. ADSL2+ technology) and/or Next Generation Broadband Systems (e.g. VDSL2 or G.fast technology).
The Industry Code is in three Parts:
- Part 1 requires Next Generation Broadband Systems not to emit Unacceptable Excess Power and not to cause Unacceptable Interference to other Higher Priority Deployment Class Systems or to Legacy Systems in a Shared Cable Bundle.
- Part 2 defines the detailed technical methods and calculations required to demonstrate those requirements are met.
- Part 3 provides a list of defined Deployment Classes and a set of Appendices, each containing a detailed specification for a Deployment Class. It also describes the path to deemed compliance by these Deployment Class Systems.
The Code has been revised to:
- Include G.fast as a Deployment Class System (spectrally masked above VDSL2); and
- Incorporate industry learning from recent years of operation since publication of the previous version of the Code.
You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.
All submissions received will be made publicly available on the Communications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED AT 5:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2025
Comments received from:
COMMENT SOUGHT ON THE PROPOSED WITHDRAWAL OF
C559:2012 UNCONDITIONED LOCAL LOOP SERVICE (ULLS) NETWORK DEPLOYMENT INDUSTRY CODE, AND
G618:2004 APPROVAL OF NON-DEPLOYMENT CLASS SYSTEMS UNDER ACIF INDUSTRY CODE C559
C559:2012 Explanatory Statement (pdf 118KB)
C559:2012 Part 1 ULLS Performance Requirements (pdf 688KB)
C559:2012 Part 2 Spectral Compatability Determination Process (pdf 686KB)
C559:2012 Part 3 Requirements for Deployment Class Systems (pdf 669KB)
G618:2004 (pdf, 292 KB)
The C559:2012 Unconditioned Local Loop Service (ULLS) Network Deployment Industry Code defines the performance requirements for DSL and other technologies on copper access networks. The Code offers a coordinated approach to reduce the risk of interference between services deployed on access networks using the ULLS.
C559:2012 is included on the register of industry codes maintained by the Australian Communications Media Authority (ACMA) under Part 6 of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
The G618:2004 Approval of Non-Deployment Class Systems under ACIF Industry Code C559 Industry Guideline is a related document that describes the process for proposing Non-Deployment Class Systems for C559 and gives detailed requirements for the information which must be submitted by the proposer.
Given:
- The substantial decline in the number of services operating over the ULLS e.g. via migration to the National Broadband Network (NBN);
- The ACCC decision to allow the ULLS declaration to lapse on 30 June 2024, including because of "the very low number of services in operation" (source: the ACCC 'Communications Market Report' for 2023-2024); and
- The very low number of services means that C559 is no longer needed i.e. to help manage the "risk of interference between services deployed over access networks"
then Communications Alliance believes both C559:2012 and the related document G618:2004 are now redundant and can be withdrawn. Therefore, Communications Alliance invites comment on its proposal to:
- Withdraw G618:2004; and
- Apply to ACMA to remove C559:2012 from the ACMA register of industry codes and then, subject to an Authority decision on this application, withdraw C559:2012.
You can use the Submit Comments form to submit your comments via email or go to the Contact Us webpage to obtain other contact methods such as by post.
All submissions received will be made publicly available on the Communications Alliance website unless the submitter requests otherwise.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED AT 5:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2025
Comments received from: